Kids use art to celebrate their neighborhoods

Emy Perez, left, and her daughter, Enya, 5, draw their self-portraits. They came to the New Children's Museum's drawing and photo portrait workshop, an event that was part of its Mass Creativity community art series.
Roxana Popescu

Emy Perez, left, and her daughter, Enya, 5, draw their self-portraits. They came to the New Children's Museum's drawing and photo portrait workshop, an event that was part of its Mass Creativity community art series.

San Diego  A while back, Tomoko Kuta noticed something about the parents and other chaperones who came into the New Children’s Museum with their young charges: It wasn’t just the kids who were getting absorbed by the exhibits.

“Adults like to play, too,” she said.

So Kuta, who is the museum’s director of education and exhibitions, along with other museum staffers and a squad of artistic advisers, decided to plan a series of events that consciously engage seniors, babies, and everyone in between — essentially anyone who can hold a pencil or pose for a camera.

They called it Mass Creativity, holding eight workshops around San Diego that encouraged participants to celebrate their neighborhoods, their uniqueness and their relationships.

The movement culminates on June 22, when the museum and the park across the street will host Mass Creativity Day. Kids are welcome but not necessary, Kuta said.

The whole program is funded by the James Irvine Foundation, whose mission is to strengthen communities in California with a grant dedicated for “risk capital” — trying something new, stepping into uncharted territory.

Kuta gave a teaser for what people can expect at the interactive art festival. One project involves a gigantic world map. People will get to tell stories about where they’ve been and what plans or hopes they have for the future.

Another artist will teach people how to make instruments from recycled materials and bring all the ad hoc musicians together in an orchestra of sorts. Food trucks will be on hand.

At one of two Mass Creativity events Saturday, held at the Logan Heights Public Library, grown-ups and kids were learning about portraiture.

Perry Vasquez, an artist and the workshop’s teacher, had drawn an egg outline that would eventually become his model’s face.

“Draw lines that guide you when you draw the eyes and nose,” he instructed. “Believe it or not, the bottom of your nose is half way down between your eyes and chin.” (A quick glance at the faces around the room confirmed this amazing factoid.)

Jose and Kelly Lemuz, siblings from the neighborhood, said the lines really helped them understand how to draw faces better. In their downtime, Kelly draws her family. Jose draws cartoons. Saturday, they drew each other.

She caught his 11-year-old cool-dude hairstyle and gave him a tough guy gaze. He was precise with her perky pony tail and tiny earrings. She turns 9 Sunday.

When they finished their drawings, they moved in front of a camera on a tripod and posed with their portraits.

At other tables, moms and dads were drawing side by side with their children.

R. Lin, an artist, came alone. “I’m an artist and art teacher and just wanted to see what was going on from the Children’s Museum,” Lin said, between pencil strokes of the model’s profile. “It sounded intriguing to me: the combo of drawing and photography, and including the whole community.”

At another event Saturday afternoon, artist David White created a citizen newsroom in the Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Community Center in City Heights. Participants got a crash course in reporting and news production basics, including designing a newsroom set, writing and editing articles, and anchoring broadcasts. The event tied into the community theme of the series, by encouraging people to study their neighborhoods and think about what’s changing, what’s awesome and what needs work, Kuta said.

Kuta added that letting adults in on the fun isn’t just for their benefit. Research shows that parental involvement — whether it’s helping with homework or doing fun things on weekends — boosts a child’s achievement.

“We feel that when a family unit interacts, or an adult interacts with children, there’s an incredible amount of learning taking place. Society has gotten so fragmented — specialized fields, different age groups — when you bring multigenerational layers together, you’re learning from one another.”

Because while works of art say a lot about a time, place and culture, the people wandering around a museum can be even more illuminating.